Online store

With the Covid-19 lockdown in action in Southern Europe, consumers in Italy, Spain and France are quickly discovering online shopping. More and more retailers are going online to sell their stuff, while an increasing number of consumers are ordering their groceries and products online.

Qliro Group, a Nordic ecommerce group that currently consists of marketplace CDON, payments company Qliro and fashion retailer Nelly.com, is transforming. CDON will move out and become an independent company, while Nelly will remain. As a result, Qliro Group will be renamed Nelly Group.

Amazon has officially announced it will launch an online store in the Netherlands. That's why it is now opening its doors to external vendors. Both Dutch and foreign sellers can now register if they want to sell their products on Amazon.nl.

Asos has started a test with See My Fit, an augmented reality tool that shows a product in different sizes and on different body types. Asos is the first retailer in Europe to test the technology.

Sizebay, a scale-up that provides AI solutions for fashion ecommerce websites, has developed an algorithm that recommends the best size and fit for clothes and shoes. The tool is aimed to cut returns by half, while boosting sales with 5 percent.

Customers of German supermarket Rewe can now choose from an even larger selection online to have it delivered with Rewe's package service. They can order all kinds of private label products, durable foods and non-food items, all with no minimum order value.

Two out of three retailers in Germany still don't sell their products online. Mostly, it's grocers, clothing stores and specialists such as jewelers that don't sell on the internet.

Zalando will expand its Beauty assortment to the Netherlands. On the 28th of August, Dutch consumers will be able to buy over 8,500 different beauty products from more than 200 brands at Zalando.

Miinto, an ecommerce fashion platform from Denmark, has sold products for almost 700 million Danish kroner, which corresponds to about 94 million euros, last year. This is an increase of more than 40 percent compared to the previous year.

Online retailer Otto and shopping center operator ECE have formed joint venture Stocksquare to link offline and online shopping. The goal is to boost offline sales at ECE shopping centers and to expand Otto's online assortment.

Signa Retail, the Austrian group that owns Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof, wants to give a boost to its online sales. That's why it launched the New Business Hub in Zurich. Carmen Spielmann, founder and CEO of car-sharing platform Sharoo, joined Signa Retail to lead the new division.

German supermarket chain Edeka has increased its stake in the Dutch online-only supermarket Picnic. The retail company already owned 20 percent of Picnic in Germany, but now Edeka holds a 35 percent share.

Mercadona, a Spanish supermarket chain from Valencia, has expanded its new online shopping service to customers in Barcelona. The launch of the online store follows after opening a new distribution center in the Catalan city.

Henri Lloyd, a brand from the UK that's specialized in sailing clothing, has relaunched its online store. This is the result of a digital transformation the brand has gone through since it was acquired by Aligro Group last year.

There is another online department store arising in Switzerland. Two months after electronics retailer Brack.ch relaunched as an online department store, competitor Microspot will also switch to being an online platform where customers can shop for things like jewelry, diapers, sports equipment and dog food.